Monax Mining releases Wilclo South maiden Resource

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Monax Mining (ASX: MOX) has released a maiden JORC Inferred Mineral Resource for the Wilclo South graphite deposit on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

The Wilclo South deposit forms part of the company’s 100 per cent-owned Waddikee project.

 

Location of the Waddikee project, central Eyre Peninsula. Source: Company announcement

 

The total combined Inferred resource Wilclo South deposit comprises 6.4 million tonnes grading 8.8 per cent total graphitic carbon (TGC) for the 550,000 tonnes of contained graphite using a 5 per cent cut-off.

The resource includes a high-grade component of 1.75 million tonnes grading 12.5 per cent TGC using a 10 per cent TGC cut-off.

The company stated the results confirm Wilclo South to now be comparable to other graphite deposits on Eyre Peninsula, which is emerging as a premier graphite province in Australia.

Monax will now undertake metallurgy studies and commence additional resource definition drilling at Waddikee’s nearby Francis prospect.

“Now that Monax has established a robust graphite resource at Wilclo South and further identified graphite potential at the Francis prospect, Waddikee will become a major focus for the company over the next 12 months,” Monax Mining managing director Gary Ferris said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

Monax explained the Wilclo South resource represents only a minor part of the potential graphitic horizon it has interpreted from airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data.

The company believes the interpretation is supported by limited drilling at the Francis prospect, which also reported high-grade graphite with up to 15 metres at 20.7 per cent TGC and 12m at 21.9 per cent TGC.

Both the Wilclo South deposit and Francis prospect are virgin discoveries with both targets based on interpretation of regional AEM data and a review of historical drill holes targeting base metals.

Initial exploration conducted by Monax at each target included ground electromagnetic (EM) surveys, which provided good quality data to assist with defining the dip of the prospective horizons.

“Monax is pleased with the results with Wilclo South now able to be compared to other known graphite deposits on the Eyre Peninsula,” Ferris said.

“We are excited about the inferred resource definition, as it provides further confidence in our strong belief that this is the first milestone in recognising, developing and upgrading our Waddikee graphite inventory.”

Monax identified a number of graphite prospects, Lacroma, Argent and Balumbah, during previous reconnaissance drilling and surface sampling in early 2012.

The company also encountered high grade intersections discovered during preliminary drill testing at the Francis prospect.

Francis is situated approximately six kilometres southwest of Wilclo South, on what the company interprets as a stratigraphic replication of Wilclo South due to a large geological fold structure in the area.

“This represents significant project upside on top of our Wilclo South inferred resource,” Ferris said.

“We are dealing with more than one graphite prospect within the Waddikee project.

“There are significant anomalous AEM targets right across the project area, many of which we already know contain graphite, and many that still remain untested under shallow sand cover.”

Monax will now undertake further work on the metallurgy of the deposit as well as undertaking further drilling at the Francis prospect to define a resource.